| Utilisateur | Auteur du fil: ProZ.com Staff Poll: The longest time I've spent without work in the last 12 months was: |
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ProZ.com Staff 
États-Unis
COLLABORATEUR DU SITE |
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "The longest time I've spent without work in the last 12 months was:".
This poll was originally submitted by Alvaro Morales
View the poll here
A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629
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Tomás Cano Binder
Espagne
 Membre (2005)
anglais vers espagnol
+ ...
| | How much work is "without work"? | Jul 17 |
Do you mean NO work at all, or just little work, less work than usual?
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Laureana Pavon
Uruguay
Membre (2007)
espagnol vers anglais
+ ...
| | Nothing confusing about the term "without" | Jul 17 |
Tomás Cano Binder wrote:
How much work is "without work"?
Do you mean NO work at all, or just little work, less work than usual? |
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I don't thing there's anything ambiguous or open to interpretation in the phrase "without work".
Also, I want to take the opportunity to thank all those who submit these polls; voting and reading my colleagues' comments usually provides a nice, welcome moment of fun within my working day.
Cheers!!
[Edited at 2008-07-17 17:50]
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savaria
Hongrie
anglais vers hongrois
+ ...
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I have been having plenty of work for the last 2 month,and if not,then you can easily find a lot of work to do for yourself on proz.com
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Heike Kurtz
Allemagne
Membre (2005)
anglais vers allemand
+ ...
| | 3-4 weeks - on holiday | Jul 17 |
Usually, I work every day, albeit not always for payment. There's always filing, bookkeeping or marketing to do...
But once a year, we go on holiday, and I try not to work then (although I sometimes take my laptop computer and cell phone for a regular assignment during that period).
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Tomás Cano Binder
Espagne
Membre (2005)
anglais vers espagnol
+ ...
| | Confusing question | Jul 18 |
Laureana Pavon wrote:
Tomás Cano Binder wrote:
How much work is "without work"?
Do you mean NO work at all, or just little work, less work than usual? |
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I don't thing there's anything ambiguous or open to interpretation in the phrase "without work".
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I can't tell what's confusing, but there's something strange to this question. Maybe a native speaker of English can tell us. That's why I am asking.
And I think that a translator always has work to do: filing, invoicing, classifying reference material, recording new terms in glossaries... Does this "work" mean "translation assignments from customers"?
[Edited at 2008-07-18 04:09]
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Lise Smidth
Autriche
Membre (2002)
allemand vers danois
+ ...
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If you include vacation, then it's 3 weeks - and it was absolutely amazing 
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Tomás Cano Binder
Espagne
Membre (2005)
anglais vers espagnol
+ ...
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As comments from colleagues start to roll in, it is clear to me that "without work" is unclear:
- Some understand "without working"
- Some understand "with no assignments coming from customers"
Which one of the two was really meant here?
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Marie-Hélène Hayles
Italie
Membre (2004)
italien vers anglais
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I took the question to mean "available for work but with no assigned (paid) work to do" (in contrast with unpaid administration, marketing etc.), in which case the answer for me is actually "no time at all". I thought it was pretty clear, but as various people have interpreted it in different ways, it obviously isn't!
Of course I've taken holidays in the last 12 months, although as far as I can remember I've always had work scheduled for my return in any case. But even if I hadn't, "not available for work" is not the same thing as "without work", and I've never spent any time twiddling my thumbs with no paid work to get on with in the last year.
[Edited at 2008-07-18 07:06]
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xanthippe
France
Membre (Jun 2008)
français vers italien
+ ...
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I understand the question as "the longest time wihout any translation to do" :
in this sense, for me .... 2 weeks. But during this time I do some marketing, I do administratif work, so I work all the time......
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Lawyer-Linguist
Portugal
Membre (2004)
néerlandais vers anglais
+ ...
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Marie-Hélène Hayles wrote:
I've never spent any time twiddling my thumbs with no paid work to get on with in the last year. |
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I'm fortunately always booked in advance, touch wood.
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aceavila - Noni
Espagne
Membre (2007)
espagnol vers anglais
+ ...
| | Clients "antennae" | Jul 18 |
Why is it that just as I'm coming to the end of a lengthy/difficult project and planning to take a bit of a breather/get on with other administrative tasks etc, a new piece of work almost invariably arrives? Can my clients sense that I am beginning to relax?!
Of course, I'm not complaining...
BTW, I clearly understand this as does Marie-Hélène, "available for work but with no assigned (paid) work to do" as opposed to "without working", which is what we try to do when on holiday!
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Sonia Atkinson
Royaume-Uni
italien vers anglais
+ ...
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Marie-Hélène Hayles wrote:
I took the question to mean "available for work but with no assigned (paid) work to do" (in contrast with unpaid administration, marketing etc.), in which case the answer for me is actually "no time at all". I thought it was pretty clear, but as various people have interpreted it in different ways, it obviously isn't!
Of course I've taken holidays in the last 12 months, although as far as I can remember I've always had work scheduled for my return in any case. But even if I hadn't, "not available for work" is not the same thing as "without work", and I've never spent any time twiddling my thumbs with no paid work to get on with in the last year.
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This is exactly how I interpreted it too. I have taken time over over the last 12 months to have a baby and go on holiday, and I'm currently working part-time. However, when I am available for work I am never without work and am usually booked up well in advance. I generally have to turn work down.
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Kelly McGuire
Pays-Bas
chinois vers anglais
+ ...
| | Depends on what type of work... | Jul 18 |
Are we talking about translation work, or work in general?
I haven't done any translation work for over a year now (due to financial reasons) but I've in full-time employment during that time.
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Sonja Allen
Royaume-Uni
Membre (2005)
anglais vers allemand
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not considering holidays or time off. This happened to me last August and again after Christmas including the first week of January. I was available but simply nothing came in. I just put it down to everyone else being on holiday.
But I also have the occasional week when there are only small jobs coming in leaving me with lot of free time in between, and then there are, of course, the occasional cases when 3 agencies ring you at once on a Monday or Tuesday but, given the unflexible deadlines in most cases, you can only please one of them, so you do the one job and are then empty-handed for the rest of the week.
Sometimes this irregularity just drives me crazy.
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